We know how important it is to keep in touch. We publish news in lots of different ways. These are our official media releases, and articles provided to local papers.

We know how important it is to keep in touch. We publish news in lots of different ways. These are our official media releases, and articles provided to local papers.

From your Mayor - 18 February 2020

As anyone who’s driven around the city recently can tell
you, Porirua is going ahead in leaps and bounds. But leaping and bounding
doesn’t come without risk. You can injure yourself if you’re not careful or run
out of steam. So it’s critical we don’t take current boom times for granted.

The Wellington region is
undergoing a sharp uptick in housing demand, driving up
prices, and underpinning demand for new developments. In many cases, only
Porirua has the land necessary, so we’re seeing new homes being built by the
hundreds. It’s important we manage growth carefully – and we don’t have the
luxury of getting it wrong.

Our Council operates within a narrow margin of error. Unlike
Wellington City, and to a lesser extent the Hutt, we can’t rely on
deep-pocketed commercial and industrial ratepayers to subsidise residential
rates revenue. This means our average household rate bills are 7th highest in
the country and $122 per annum* more than Wellington City.

This explains why
we, as a Council, need to take a rigorous, even unforgiving approach to the
stewardship of ratepayer money.

We have very little room
for movement. And we certainly don’t enjoy the luxury of spending up large on
vanity projects or non-essential activities. We need to take a conservative
approach to Council operations and administration.

We can’t afford a culture
that leads to unchecked rate increases. We need to make sure we’re as
lean as possible – without diminishing the quality of our services or allowing
infrastructure to fall behind.